Taz writes:
And somehow, I haven't hit the big 30 yet LOL. Will be soon, though. Man, I'll be an oldie in a few months. Depressing...
Impressive. You college guys impress me more and more. One thing, though. Aging is never really felt until around age 36-40, the age when most athletes retire. Now is the time for a renaissance. Get out and walk. Bicycle, Go to the health club...your best years still await.
I have had a union grocery clerk job since I was 28. Before that I was a career dishwasher. I am not stupid, though I did a stupid thing by ignoring college while it was still affordable. Now, I count on the Local 7 Union to keep me employed rather than suffer the fate of so many others.
Quite simply, I'm 52, no degree, suffer from moderate-severe Diabetes and am battling the demon of aging. Here in Denver, Walmart is coming to town with a reported 22 new marketplace stores.(Those are wal-mart grocery stores) Some people still say that we clerks are overpaid, but factoring in inflation over the past 20 years, our wages have actually dropped...which is of course to be expected. I am a union shop steward and thus can never get laid off, and i have the opportunity to see how the union politics works and how activist members think...and also am friendly with some managers and see how the Safeway corporate mentality thinks as well.
Jar and Ringo have lectured me in another forum about how we union folk--in order to survive--need to think. In a nutshell, we need to provide value for our employers and give them a reason to want us around....a consensus rather than a strict adversarial relationship.
So my future? Well, I am one of the last to get a pension though it is small...currently $565.00 a month...not even enough to pay health care for an aging diabetic. I plan on working out more, too...its cheaper than amputation surgery, and I can look like Onifre when I grow up!